A television screen in a home may be used for various purposes, including, but not limited to, watching traditional televisions programs. The television's display may also be employed, for example, as a stand-alone monitor to display information retrieved from the Internet, to view still images or video, or to play interactive games. When employed as a display for receiving and transmitting data over the Internet, the television display may be connected to a computing device having the capability to run various applications such as Facebook™, Twitter™, etc.
When employed to play an interactive game, the television display may be employed as a common panel (or game board) for sharing information, and individual members of the household each employ a separate mobile device to participate in the interactive game (e.g., while keeping some information hidden from other players on their own separate screen). Each separate mobile device may include a display for representing the respective participant. Examples of interactive games may include, for example, card games, board games, quiz games, a sporting event waging game, etc. The separate mobile device may be a portable device or a remote control device to interact with the game. One example of such a configuration of an interactive game console is the Wii video game console in which the remote control device comprises various sensors (e.g., accelerometer) to produce an entertainment experience.
Unfortunately, interactive games employing mobile devices controlled by a main set top box console have limited availability because the main set top box console may be specific to the company that manufactures the main set top box console that deploys the interactive game. This creates a barrier of entry for game developers—it is easy and cost effective for game developers to focus on such a specific mobile device (e.g., an Android-based device, a windows-based device, an iOS-based device, etc.). Alternatively, a TV network operator may develop second screen interactive game software and hardware, but a TV network operator may not have the focus (nor the financial motivation) to address these problems that are more in the realm of game development companies.